Compare Globally, Interpret Locally: International Rankings of Student Achievement and Public Discourse in Israel

• In Event: 160 - Regular Session. Sociology and the Politics of Education

Abstract

Scholars have documented the global spread of institutionalized cultural models, such as educational policies and practices. Although news media has important role in shaping the broad social impact of these global models, we know very little about how local news media engage with these models. In this paper, I focus on international assessments of student achievement (e.g., TIMSS, PIRLS, and PISA). Currently, more than one-third of all countries participate in these assessments. Because international assessments are arguably a means for public accountability, it is especially important to examine the ways in which they are appropriated and interpreted in the news media. To do so, I use the complete news coverage of international assessments in two major daily newspapers in Israel between 1996 and 2010 (total of 100 articles). The analyses reveal four key patterns. First, public discourse on international assessments developed gradually, and not immediately after the launch of new assessment cycles in the mid-1990s. Second, international assessments are perceived to be more pertinent to policy makers than to the general public. Third, local news media constructed an academic achievement crisis discourse (with little evidence in the highly standardized reports of international assessments). Fourth, local news media facilitated and contributed to the institutionalization of international assessments. These findings have important implications and challenge widely held perceptions of the way in which global models enter the local public sphere.

Author

• Oren Pizmony-Levy, Columbia University